Tuesday, November 15, 2011

"Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have both been forced from office and
replaced by representatives of big finance. Mario Monti, who will
replace Berlusconi, was formerly the European Chairman of the Trilateral
Commission and a member of the Bilderberg Group. He is also listed on
Goldman Sachs board of international advisers.
Lucas Papademos, who will replace Papandreou, was formerly the Vice
President of the European Central Bank (ECB), and served as Senior
Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1980. He’s also been a
member of the Trilateral Commission since 1998.
It’s also worth noting that the ECB’s new president, Mario Draghi, is
a trustee at the Brookings Institution, a Fellow of the Institute of
Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a
former member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International
Settlements, and a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs."

"After the September 2008 crash, Iceland’s government took over the
old, collapsed, banks and created new ones in their place. Original
bondholders of the old banks off-loaded the Icelandic bank bonds in the
market for pennies on the dollar. The buyers were vulture funds. These
bondholders became the owners of the old banks, as all shareholders were
wiped out. In October, the government’s monetary authority appointed
new boards to control the banks. Three new banks were set up, and all
the deposits, mortgages and other bank loans were transferred to these
new, healthier banks – at a steep discount. These new banks received 80
percent of the assets, the old banks 20 percent.
Then, owners of the old banks were given control over two of the new
banks (87% and 95% respectively). The owners of these new banks were
called vultures not only because of the steep discount at which the
financial assets and claims of the old banks were transferred, but
mainly because they already had bought control of the old banks at
pennies on the dollar.
The result is that instead of the government keeping the banks and
simply wiping them out in bankruptcy, the government kept aside and let
vulture investors reap a giant windfall – that now threatens to plunge
Iceland’s economy into chronic financial austerity. In retrospect, none
of this was necessary. The question is, what can the government do to
clean up the mess that it has created by so gullibly taking bad IMF
advice?"

Funny that we're in the middle of a big propagandablitz that Iceland did the right thing and is a model for us all, while it looks like a slightly more sophisticated defalcation.

"You Are The 98%" (found via here, with much better comments). He sounds like an old man waving his cane at the kids and yelling for them to get off his lawn. What all these guys don't understand is that their clueless reaction is one of the important results of the actions of the protesters. In fact, it is the reaction of the establishment - which is already involving violence - which is the key to the protest. I did however like his comment on Naomi Klein, a problem, not a solution, just like Žižek, Krugman, Chomsky, and all the other elites who want to take charge/credit for what the people are starting to do:

"Grant me that when Naomi Klein is invited to speak for the 99%, at least
45% are looking at each other like, wtf, who let Linda Tripp in here? "

"Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou and Italian
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have both been forced from office and
replaced by representatives of big finance. Mario Monti, who will
replace Berlusconi, was formerly the European Chairman of the Trilateral
Commission and a member of the Bilderberg Group. He is also listed on
Goldman Sachs board of international advisers.
Lucas Papademos, who will replace Papandreou, was formerly the Vice
President of the European Central Bank (ECB), and served as Senior
Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 1980. He’s also been a
member of the Trilateral Commission since 1998.
It’s also worth noting that the ECB’s new president, Mario Draghi, is
a trustee at the Brookings Institution, a Fellow of the Institute of
Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, a
former member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International
Settlements, and a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs."

"After the September 2008 crash, Iceland’s government took over the
old, collapsed, banks and created new ones in their place. Original
bondholders of the old banks off-loaded the Icelandic bank bonds in the
market for pennies on the dollar. The buyers were vulture funds. These
bondholders became the owners of the old banks, as all shareholders were
wiped out. In October, the government’s monetary authority appointed
new boards to control the banks. Three new banks were set up, and all
the deposits, mortgages and other bank loans were transferred to these
new, healthier banks – at a steep discount. These new banks received 80
percent of the assets, the old banks 20 percent.
Then, owners of the old banks were given control over two of the new
banks (87% and 95% respectively). The owners of these new banks were
called vultures not only because of the steep discount at which the
financial assets and claims of the old banks were transferred, but
mainly because they already had bought control of the old banks at
pennies on the dollar.
The result is that instead of the government keeping the banks and
simply wiping them out in bankruptcy, the government kept aside and let
vulture investors reap a giant windfall – that now threatens to plunge
Iceland’s economy into chronic financial austerity. In retrospect, none
of this was necessary. The question is, what can the government do to
clean up the mess that it has created by so gullibly taking bad IMF
advice?"

Funny that we're in the middle of a big propagandablitz that Iceland did the right thing and is a model for us all, while it looks like a slightly more sophisticated defalcation.

"You Are The 98%" (found via here, with much better comments). He sounds like an old man waving his cane at the kids and yelling for them to get off his lawn. What all these guys don't understand is that their clueless reaction is one of the important results of the actions of the protesters. In fact, it is the reaction of the establishment - which is already involving violence - which is the key to the protest. I did however like his comment on Naomi Klein, a problem, not a solution, just like Žižek, Krugman, Chomsky, and all the other elites who want to take charge/credit for what the people are starting to do:

"Grant me that when Naomi Klein is invited to speak for the 99%, at least
45% are looking at each other like, wtf, who let Linda Tripp in here? "